Monuments

The California Desert Conservation and Recreation Act would create two new National Monuments in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. National monuments can be designated by Congress or by the president under the Antiquities Act, which Theodore Roosevelt signed in 1906. National monument designations protect scenic, historic, archeological, geologic and other scientific and educational values.

Proposed Mojave Trails National Monument The Mojave Trails NM would preserve 942,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land in California’s most beloved desert and protect a major landscape linkage between Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve. One of North America’s most unique landscapes, the Mojave Desert, is home to desert tortoises and bighorn sheep. National Monument status would protect the existing uses of these lands for outdoor recreation, a national scenic highway, exploring outstanding geology, and wildlife corridors between national parks and congressionally declared wilderness areas. The Mojave Trails NM would also preserve the most pristine, undeveloped remaining stretch of historic Route 66, created in 1926.

Proposed Sand to Snow National Monument The proposed 135,000 acre Sand to Snow National Monument rises from the Sonoran Desert floor up to southern California’s tallest alpine peak, Mount San Gorgonio at 11,503 feet. National Monument status would elevate the protection of one of California’s most diverse landscapes, as well as protect wildlife corridors between the San Bernardino Mountains, San Jacinto Mountains and Joshua Tree National Park. It includes the headwaters of southern California’s longest river, the Santa Ana River, as well as the headwaters of the Whitewater River. The monument status sought in Senator Feinstein’s proposal would create a consolidated vision for a remarkable landscape owned by multiple federal and state agencies and nonprofit organizations.